entablature
(noun)
The area of a temple façade that lies horizontally atop the columns.
Examples of entablature in the following topics:
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Temple Architecture in the Greek Orientalizing Period
- On the entablature, the frieze of the façade consisted of a series of reliefs depicting a procession of riders on horseback with little variation.
- The current cracked condition of the frieze is a likely indicator that it was assembled in a piecemeal fashion, as opposed to being carved as a singular entablature.
- Atop the entablature sat sculptures of two winged female creatures resembling the sphinx or the lamassu of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian cultures.
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Renaissance Architecture
- For instance, church façades of this period are generally surmounted by a pediment and organized by a system of pilasters, arches, and entablatures.
- During the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an integrated system.
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Temple Architecture in the Greek Archaic Period
- This was perhaps a way to correct optical illusion or to emphasize the weight of the entablature above, held up by the columns.
- The Doric entablature was also unique to this style of temples.
- This further denotes the Greeks unease with building in stone and the need to properly support a stone entablature and heavy roof.
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The Propylaea and the Erechtheion
- Six towering sculpted women (caryatids) servesupport the entablature of the building.
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Teotihuacan
- The sloping base, or talud, of each platform supports a vertical tablero, or entablature, which is surrounded by frame and filled with sculptural decoration.
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Architecture in the Greek High Classical Period
- The columns became more slender, and the entablature lighter during this period.
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Diocletian's Palace
- Diocletian's palace demonstrates the Roman use of vaults in the substructure and the use of columns, peristyles, and entablatures to create monumental spaces.
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Neoclassical Architecture
- Beneath the pediment, the inscription on the entablature translates as, "To the great men, the grateful homeland."
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Renaissance Architecture in Florence
- The Palazzo Rucellai, a palatial townhouse built 1446–51, typified the newly developing features of Renaissance architecture, including a classical ordering of columns over three levels and the use of pilasters and entablatures in proportional relationship to each other.
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Renaissance Architecture in Rome
- The piano nobile entablature was given a frieze with garlands, added by Michelangelo.